The Vampire Diaries -- The Hybrid

I really don't think it's a good thing when you find the supposed lead character of the show, Elena or as I call her Princess E, more unlikable with each passing episode. I know a few people online that actively loathe and despise this character, but I've been pretty indifferent to her up until now, but that's starting to change. Her self-absorption and all about Stefan crap is seriously beginning to annoy me.

The episode opens with Damon taking down all the stuff he had up as he had looked for Stefan. He's still visibly upset when a story comes on TV about Andie's death. In bops Princess E who says Damon's been dodging her calls, which gave me hope for Damon. Maybe he was breaking free of the Princess E Disease. PED is when everything for you becomes ABE aka All About Elena. That Damon was dodging her calls and wasn't all ABE in the anointed one's presence was a good sign of recovery for Damon. She wants to know why Damon didn't tell her? Oh, probably because when he tells you Stefan killed her, you don't bat an eye and start yabbering away about how Stefan called you.

For all those Damon fans rejoicing that Damon appears to be getting over his bad case of Elena cooties don't rejoice. By episode end he's once again suffering from PED.

Anyway, Stefan killing Andie in such a cold-blooded manner that had nothing to do with blood lust has convinced Damon that Stefan is gone and beyond hope and he won't help Princess E, so she goes running over to Alaric next to get him to betray Damon by telling her what he knows about Stefan. He tells her that Stefan and Klaus have been tracking werewolves. She goes to Tyler and he tells her where the wolf pack is because it's all his fault Stefan is in Klaus' clutches because he bit Damon.

You know only on this show could the guy who got bit be made entirely incidental and it be made ABS or All About Stefan. I haven't seen either Caroline or Tyler express any regret or anything to Damon, but apparently Caroline has repeatedly whined how Tyler biting Damon is the reason her mentor isn't there to have a burger with her at The Grille.

Princess E hauls tail over to Alaric and gets him to go into the woods with her to find Stefan, even though a full moon is coming. Yes, it's another of this big dummies brilliant ideas. Ranks right up there with resurrecting Elijah and trusting would kill Klaus if she went through with the ritual. That time it cost the lives of two of her family members, but I'm sure she doesn't think about things like that.

My favorite part of the episode came when Damon arrived and sent Princess E flying through the air like the daring young man on the flying trapeze and right into the water. Couldn't happen to a more deserving person. It's one of those scenes you just want to play over and over again and it'll still give you a perverse thrill no matter how many times you've viewed it. Unfortunately, after that great moment, it becomes clear Damon still has a case of Elena cooties as he ultimately agrees to her insane plan to track werewolves to find Stefan on the night of a full freaking moon.

You know, I love Ian Somerhalder and think he's a great actor, but I'm just not seeing this great banter that's supposed to exist between Damon and Princess E. Damon and Katherine, yes; Damon and Elena; no. And the only chemistry between D/E is coming from him. Anyway, very soon our trio will be running into Klaus hybrid experiment gone wrong.

Deep in the woods Klaus and Stefan have found the wolf pack. Klaus quickly decimates the entire tribe and turns them into vampires. He keeps one wolf around to be blood donor to turn them into vampires. His first guinea pig, Ray, doesn't react well to becoming a hybrid. Blood starts leaking from his eyes and he seems rather zombie-ish. He bites Stefan before running off into the woods.

You should have heard me squawking, "Damn, damn, damn!" Not because I give a damn if Stefan lives or die, but because I wanted that to be something special Damon and Katherine shared. Now Precious Stefan is a part of the club. So if Damon and Katherine are hybrids, than so will he. Damn! That over-exposed sucker always has to get in on everything.

Anyway, Ray comes across Damon, Alaric and Princess E. They manage to tie him up and all, but nothing is really working to keep him down. A demonstration of how impossible it'll be to take down Klaus the invincible. Ray starts changing into a wolf. Damon uses himself as bait to draw the wolf away from Princess E and nearly meets his maker, but our hero the not-so heroic Stefan saves Damon and tells him to get Princess E out of there.

Stefan returns to his master and Klaus gives him his blood so he won't die from the bite. He still won't tell Stefan why he wanted him so badly. I honestly don't care. Just another character that thinks Stefan's the bees knees. Klaus had to kill all the zombie hybrids and he can't understand what went wrong. He said he did everything required, including killing the doppelganger. And here I go doing, "Damn, damn, damn!" I got into a conversation about Klaus not caring a crap about Princess E, but this person told me the show would somehow find a way to make Klaus all ABE. So Princess E is the reason Klaus' hybrid experiment went wrong. Yep, we can add more to the body count of the people she's gotten killed. Of course, when Klaus finds out she's alive he'll become another victim infected with PED.

The B story was Jeremy and his ghostly girlfriends. Jeremy thinks Matt can help him to help Vicky since he was closest to her. Matt really doesn't want to be involved in any of this supernatural stuff. He eventually relents. Vicky claims to Jeremy they can help her come back, while Anna pops up to tell Jeremy not to trust Vicky. I have to agree with Anna. Anything that brings Vicky back is not a good thing.

The other B story is Mama Lockwood and the mystery man she's been talking to. Carol is afraid that since Tyler's been sniffing around Caroline he could be a vamp, so she slips some vervain in his coffee to put him through the acid test. When Tyler complains to Matt later at The Grille about the weird taste in the coffee, Matt tells him its the vervain. Tyler puts two and two together and confronts his mommy who reveals she knows Caroline is a vampire. When Carol declares that Caroline is a monster, Tyler drags mommy down to the cellar and makes her watch as her transforms into a wolf.

After her experience, Carol starts having second thoughts about harming Caroline and call her mystery man Bill. Bill won't be swayed. He knows what Caroline is and she must be dealt with. I wasn't the least bit surprised when Caroline sees Bill and calls him, "Daddy." I was expecting it. I'm guess Liz told Bill what Caroline was and Bill told Carol and that's how she found out what she was.

Back to our A story. Damon tells Elena he was wrong, Stefan can still be saved, and he'll bring him back to her, but first...He makes Elena admit she was worried about him in the woods and he wants her to remember how that felt when he brings Stefan back. Yeah, duh, Damon! Of course, she was worried. The nitwit was the one who put you in danger. Anyone would be worried if they put someone in danger, it doesn't mean she has any special feelings for you. This is what I hate about D/E. Damon always comes off as a puppy begging for table scraps from Princess E. In short, Damon's still in the death grip of PED.

You know, I think the show has a love/hate relationship with the D/E fan base. After pretty much treating that finale ending kiss from Elena to Damon as a big nothing, when the D/E's have treated it like the holy grail, they throw them a couple of bones to gnaw on. Damon looked like he wanted to kiss Elena while she was in the water and he got her to admit she was worried about him. Per usual, most of the D/E stuff is coming from Damon and precious little is coming from Elena.

The episode started off kind of slow, but it picked up some momentum by the end. So far, I haven't really loved any episode this season from start to finish to the point I wanted to rewatch it. And I doubt next week's show will be any different. It's going to be a Stefan flashback episode. Yippee! We get to learn more about Stefan in another attempt to make him interesting. I'm sure many find him interesting, I'm just not one of them.